Later Mughals v1.c6.s8.1

v1.c6.s8.1

Rajputana is the extensive country lying between Sind on the west and the Chambal river on the east, and stretching from the Bharatpur and Dholpur States on the north to the Narmada on the south. It is about 130,000 square miles in area and divided by the Aravalli range into two parts, the western, a dry sandy plain, the eastern, a higher and more fertile country, much of it open and cultivated. Into this region the great Hindu military and ruling caste of the Rajputs had retired, in the twelfth century driven out by the Muhammadan invasion from Northern India and from the open valley of the Ganges and Jamuna. There are now fifteen Rajput States within the above boundaries, but some of them are modern and others are mere offshoots from the greater families. Long before the period with which we are dealing the Rajahs ruling the smaller principalities, such as Bundi, Kotah, Partabgarh, had accepted service in the Mughal army. As we have just seen most of them had representatives on one, if not on both sides, in the battle at Jajau, and after that battle they transferred themselves and their troops without hesitation to the side of the victor. With the three leading houses, the Sisodias of Mewar (or Udaipur), the Rathors of Marwar (or Jodhpur), and the Kachhwahas of Amber, the case was somewhat different.